{"id":19577,"date":"2025-07-30T14:37:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T12:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/30\/dont-feel-guilty-about-letting-your-kids-game-during-the-summer-break-celebrate-it\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T14:37:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T12:37:24","slug":"dont-feel-guilty-about-letting-your-kids-game-during-the-summer-break-celebrate-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/30\/dont-feel-guilty-about-letting-your-kids-game-during-the-summer-break-celebrate-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t feel guilty about letting your kids game during the summer break \u2013 celebrate it"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a long day of exploring, swimming or hanging with grandparents, games from Fortnite to Super Mario are a good way to wind down. Sometimes I play along, too<\/p>\n

We\u2019re a week into the school summer holidays here in England, and I wonder how many parents who started out determined to keep their children completely away from screens are now beginning to feel the strain. When my sons were much younger, I often had these idyllic images in my head of day trips to the seaside, back garden treasure hunts, paddling in the river, visiting relatives \u2026 an endless series of character forming experiences which I imagined in grainy Kodachrome colours. Then I\u2019d be faced with the reality of having a job, and also the, let\u2019s say, limited attention span of my sons. Those boys could rocket through a host of formative activities in a few hours leaving a trail of muddy boots, half-finished crafting projects and tired grandparents in their wake. Sheepishly, we\u2019d end up allowing some Fortnite time to catch our breath.<\/p>\n

There is so much pressure and guilt around children and gaming, especially during long school breaks, and I think we need to seriously redress our outlook as a society. I harbour many lovely memories of gaming with my sons during hot August days; drowsily loafing about building ridiculous mansions in Minecraft or laughing ourselves stupid in Goat Simulator<\/a>. We would always take the Switch on holiday with us, so that in the evenings, when we went out for meals, there would be an hour or so where my wife and I could linger over a glass of wine, while the boys silently played Super Mario together. We still managed to build sand castles, go swimming and explore unfamiliar towns, but games provided a way to wind down and enjoy something familiar.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nAfter a long day of exploring, swimming or hanging with grandparents, games from Fortnite to Super Mario are a good way to wind down. Sometimes I play along, too
\nWe\u2019re a week into the school summer holidays here in England, and I wonder how many parents who started out determined to keep their children completely away from screens are now beginning to feel the strain. When my sons were much younger, I often had these idyllic images in my head of day trips to the seaside, back garden treasure hunts, paddling in the river, visiting relatives \u2026 an endless series of character forming experiences which I imagined in grainy Kodachrome colours. Then I\u2019d be faced with the reality of having a job, and also the, let\u2019s say, limited attention span of my sons. Those boys could rocket through a host of formative activities in a few hours leaving a trail of muddy boots, half-finished crafting projects and tired grandparents in their wake. Sheepishly, we\u2019d end up allowing some Fortnite time to catch our breath.
\nThere is so much pressure and guilt around children and gaming, especially during long school breaks, and I think we need to seriously redress our outlook as a society. I harbour many lovely memories of gaming with my sons during hot August days; drowsily loafing about building ridiculous mansions in Minecraft or laughing ourselves stupid in Goat Simulator. We would always take the Switch on holiday with us, so that in the evenings, when we went out for meals, there would be an hour or so where my wife and I could linger over a glass of wine, while the boys silently played Super Mario together. We still managed to build sand castles, go swimming and explore unfamiliar towns, but games provided a way to wind down and enjoy something familiar. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a long day of exploring, swimming or hanging with grandparents, games from Fortnite to Super Mario are a good way to wind down. Sometimes I play along, too We\u2019re a week into the school summer holidays here in England, and I wonder how many parents who started out determined to keep their children completely …<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t feel guilty about letting your kids game during the summer break \u2013 celebrate it<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19577"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}